









LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



Chap. JGdtS. 
She/f _. v Vl JJ>_. 


UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 


/ 




























ORATION 

ON THE 

Ninety Eight Anniversary of the Birth Bay 
OF 

THOMAS PAINE, 

*t the Military Hall, Philadelphia, before the Society of 
FREE ENQUIRERS, Jan. 29 , 1834 . 

By EDWARD THOMPSON. 

“ Judge every Man according to his works, 

“ Prove all things and hold fast to that which is good.” 

TO WHICH IS PREFACED 

A BRIEF SKETCH 
OF THE EIFE 

OF 

THOMAS PAINE. 

Published by THOMAS CLARK, S. W. corner of Third 
and Poplar Lane, 

PHILADELPHIA, 

r !$3¥ 7 







( 2 .) 

BRIEF SKETCH OF THE IjFE 

OF 




ame. 


Thomas Paine was born at Thetford, in the county of 
Norfolk, in England, on the 29th day of January, 1737 . His 
father was by trade a stay-maker, and a member of the So¬ 
ciety of Friends, commonly called Quakers. Thomas was 
educated at a Grammar School, where he might have re¬ 
ceived a classical education, but for the objections of hi 
parents to have him taught Greek and Latin. After leav 
ing school he worked for some time with his father, am 
then became a volunteer Sailor in a British privateer. A* 
the age of 22 , in 1759, he married and settled at Sandwich" 
in Kent, following the business of his father. In the year 
1761 he was appointed officer of Excise, and which situ- 
tion he retained 13 years. That he had employed the I 
sure such an office afforded him, in literary pursuits, a 
particularly in the important science of political econor 
is evident by his introduction to Benjamin Franklin in the 
year 1774, and that philosopher advising him to visit thi 
country. He accordingly s „„„ after eniarked K 

HU it. ar "i at the close of that yea“ 

His literary career almost immediately commenced and hi 
great talents : .ion procured for him the friendship’and es 
teem of Bittenhouse, Clymer, Bush, and all the Amm-i 
can literati of that day. His “ Common Sense » bursl uno 
the new World producing an effect unexampled in any coun 
try and in any age, and its author became a Volunteer ir 
ste a ;S. C ° mmanded * ^ great W -W«gton during Ae 

Comnii^ToTr^ign'TffS a !& U it C r‘^ ,0 *' 

Clerk the Legislator "Ss^nia "Vl7^^ 
companied Col. Laurens to France to assist 1™ ’ h 
atmgaloan with the French government. I n 1735 Con- 




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both poetry and prose. 


o 



LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:— 

As time rolls on its chariot wheels through the boundless pathway of eternal 
ages, it now and thin presents to our delighted vision, some few of those of our 
kindred man, who are the honor of our kind,-and the glory of our race. Of men 
aye of women too, who have redeemed human nature from that foul and atrocious 
libel of a fraudulent priesthood, universal depravity. I am aware that the scrols of 

fame contain not the names of many of the truly amiable wise and good_of those 

whose every footstep hath been heard with pleasure, whose every breath poured out 
a benediction, whose every act was kindness. They are the destroyers, rather than 
the benefactors of mankind, who stand out in bold relief on the historic pa<*e. Our 
Alexanders, our Macbeths, our Napoleons— they are those who have had blas- 
oned forth their deeds of greatness and of glory: while our religious butchers, our 
Moseses, and our Mahomets have to this day their worshipping millions who pros¬ 
trate in slavish adoration before their sanguinary shrines ! 

Well! let the blind poet Homer, as blind in intellect as sense, sing of fable as of 
fact, and blind the one half world. In the fascinating melody of numbers, let him 
boast of tho prowess of Agamemnon and Peleus, of Hector and Acihilles. Let 
Athens boast of its Solon, and Sparta of its Lycurgus. Let Jewish maidens 
sing in triumphant anthems that Saul had slain his thousands,and David his tens of 
thousands. Let enthusiastic crouds bestrew their garments in the way, and with 
loud hosannas hail him king, whose birth place was a stable, and who had not 
where to lay his royal head ! Let deluded millions bend to the earth before the 
priestly baubles of the crescent and the cross, or with a maniac zeal cast them head¬ 
long death devoted victims beneath the heavily revolving wheels of their Idol Jug¬ 
gernaut. Rome lift on high thy mighty C^sars, and redeem their mighty crimes 
by tii© matchless virtues of thy Washington, thy godlike Cincinnati. Arab* 







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entwine the'ever verdant garland of fame, around the bust of thy great Saladin—» 
and Britain deck with amaranthine wreaths the brows of thy great Alfred. —Nay, 
my fellow citizens crowd before your minds eye all the pride and glory of the world; 
make them pass in review before ye as Jesse’s sons before the Seer, if the man of 


intellectual worth, of honesty and truth be the object of your search, “Ecceiiomo,” 
Behold the Man ! of no exclusive country, clan or tribe—no murderer—no fan¬ 
atic, but the saviour of a lost and ruined world ! Behold the Patriot !■ 


-the philoso¬ 
phic Paine ! 

We are assembled here this evening, not as many of us have been accustomed 
to assemble, to fulminate our indignant phillipics against the vile imposture Priest- 
ianity. We are not now met as we have been wont to meet to feast our eyes and 
cheer our hearts with the pleasing and instructive phenomena of scientific research. 
We are fp, now come into this lowly temple, to gaze with astonishment and delight 
at the ever varying pictures in the kaleidascope of nature—nor have we come here 
with the hope or expectation of the priest deluded fanatic to be spectators of those 

soul-horrifying heart breaking portents anticipated by “ adveniat regnum tiium”_ 

“ thy kingdom come”! The ponderous orb the sun to onr sensual vision, it is true 
hath dwindled into nights sable chaos, but we are not come here this evening to see 
“pale Luna swallowed up in the rubric billows of blood”—nor the “ expiring blaze 
wrap distinct realms in universal destruction and sail in glaring majesty along the 
cerulean concave of heaven,” as the pious bards do sing—nor “ all nature moulder 
into chaos,” and “ the brilliant luminaries tumble from their lofty orbits into undis- 
tinguishable ruins”—and “ earth and seas and skies melt and unite in one continu¬ 
ous stream of burning lava”—Ah no ! it is not for this we are convened. Some of 



preludes to the coming of that kingdom. A kingdom prayed for and expected every 
hour for more than 1700 years, -but a kingdom, which, for the sake of my fellow men 
and women I hope will never come. J 

Amd I trust you are not come here this evening on the tiptoe of expectation, that 
from this humble rostrum will be poured forth rivers of eloquence—not come to 
pluck m this lowly temple the flowers of elocution—you have nobler purposes, and 
nobler desires. I would,if I knew how,spread out the little 1 have to say, tinted with 
rainbow hues, with sunshine and with verdure-like the rosy spring tide season it 
should come before you with perfume, with beauty and with brigdftness. More 
espectally for the female part of my auditory would I deck my phrase with 
wordy charms; to w.n heir attention, their smile, their approbation; to carry convic- 
turn to their minds of the honesty of our purpose, the purity of our aim, and the 
salutary tendency of our object,would be a far more powerful auxiliary in uprootinc 
he veriest upas tree that ever poisoned human intellects,than if our full hags werf 
bursting over w.th gold. Ladies have ye no moral pride, no emulation, no ambi! 
t.on? .s the cultivation of your mental powers of less value than the meretricious 
draper.es of external ornament ? Is reason of less worth than superstition? Aretha 
beauties and the utilities of literature and science and the arts of less value than he 
unintelligible and debasing dogmas of the cunning and avaricious priest ? Is com 
pan,onship with sensible and cheerful men, less desirable than with morose bTofc 
or fanatical fools? But I am digressing, and I regret that time wi!l not allow me 

to prolong that digression—and still I know that my fellow men i „ “ 

much gallantry and good sense not only not to blame me, but to wn d lbeir coT 
dial approbation, and not only so but I am much mistaken if tnei, ' dresTorres' 
ponded not with mine as I gave them utterance. I have based my calculations on 


d foundptionless flata if they unite not with me 


m saying give us the presence of ac- 


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tomplished and intelligent females in our assemblies, sanctifying us by their smiles 
and protecting us by their fascinations, aud in a few years, a very few years, priesti- 
anity shall be toppled from its blood stained throne, and the fairest, the loveliestpor- 
tion of our race be emancipated from the thraldom of a cruel superstition. 

But alasl alas! it is of our pulpit orators, our Maffits, cur Baskams, our Fin¬ 
neys, we may say, that in wordy adventure, time and eternity, sense and nonsense, 
shadows and substance,imrningle and flow in copious eloquence from heart to heart 
giving a new pulse unfelt before—so the volcanos of ./Etna and Vesuvius pour 
out their burning lava, and Pompeii and Herculaniam are saddening mementos of 
the destructive element. Ye Maffetts, ye Baskams and ye Finneys warn the 
sinner as ye may against trampling on Calvary’s blood !—talk as ye may of Je- 
; hovah’s wrath and the everlasting torments of the damned—or win us as ye may, 
dazzle us with tropes and play your brilliant parts before o ^r eyes—Linger on 
I Sions verdant banks, and ;>e lavish of your presumptious promises of immortal glo¬ 
ry, the simple undecorated truths of the “Age of Reason” and the “Rights of Mary' 
have far more eloquence than all your bombastic garbage. 

“ Fie on’t oh fie, 

“ *Tis an unweeded garden, grown to seed 
“ Things rank and gross in nature possess it merely.” 

No my fellow citizens, it is for none of these things we are come up here this 
evening; but we are come, if! know any thing of the purport of our coming,to com¬ 
mingle our minds and associate our thoughts with all that can elevate and adorn 
humanity—-we are assembled to call up to our memories the birth of one, whose 
mighty mind and patriotic virtues have blessed the world—whose mighty mind and 
patriotic virtues lent their powerful aid to obtain and to secure those civil and religi¬ 
ous liberties which our Maffitis, our Baskams, and our Finneys would, if they 
could, for ever destroy—whose mighty mind and patriotic virtues have induced m, 
even us, tocongregrate this evening to enjoy those intellectual pleasures which the 
Maffetts, the Baskams and the Finneys, can never give, and never take away ! 

It is, to be sure, a lowly and unimposing temple in which we are met, to offer up 
on the altar of our devotion the incence of grateful and admiring hearts—and he who 
ministers at that altar, hath not his humble name inscribed on the emblazoned scroll 
of dignity and honor. What then? What though we hear rot the sounding of trum¬ 
pets or the peeling organ’s sweeter music! What though cur walta be iaot J* jorat- 
ed with the star spangled ensigns of that freedom tus mighiy mind contribui 1 *o el- 
fect whose natal day we are convened to celebrate. Wnal though the dizened 
soldier guard not the portals of oi r unconsecrated Hall 7 What thoi; ,ii the sapient 
Councils and Judges of cur city honor it not with their presence? What although 
thousands, the beauty a: d glory of our land compose f ot our auditory? What, al¬ 
though the fame of yom feeble orator hath not been aeralded forth from street to 
stieet,and from dome todomf? What, although the p iesthood and their bigot sate- 
lites deprecate our meeting, falsify our motives, and defame our character. StilE 
let us rejoice, f£w and humble as we are, still let us rejoice that we have lived to 
see and celebrate this day—a day which 98 years ago gave birth to a lovely babe 
destined to be the redee ner of oppressed and enslaved man, the liberator of captive 
man from tbo thraldom of ciri! and religious tyranny. I have said that I hope yon 
have no highly raised lotions of eloquence; but on what a more interesting, a: 
more thrilling then? .. . 3 most gifted orator ever dwell? On what a more thril¬ 

ling theme can your , ; .cent orator ever dwell, uncommanding as are his talents 
and undistinguished is his name. Why the theme itself is a source of inspiration 
—it imparts okqr moe to the taciturn and unlearned—the tongue before silent, or 
uttering but a - ' broken sentences in thin audible whisperings of a still small 




( 6 .) 


voice, touchod With the living coals from off the sacred altar, burning with the in* 
cenceof this holy theme, becomes redolent and unstrung, and pours fourth like a 
mighty torrent “ thoughts that breath and words that burn.” What but this inspir¬ 
ing theme could have induced me to respond to your call to occupy a station which 
e noblest, the wisest and the best only can honorably and sucessfully fill. Yes ! 
my fellow citiiens, it is a thrilling theme, it causes a pulsation in every patriots bo¬ 
som, beating hi gi , 3 r and stronger and Warmer in proportion to the extent of those 
virtues whicn grace a patriot’s name. It is calculated to tinge the cheek' of beauty 
with a love ler glow, to animate ouryouths with a praise worthy emulation of their 
patriot sires, and to nerve the palsied arm of venerable age, while the remiscencei 
thought° ne ^ aSS m < * reamy v * s * on trough the opening avenues of retrospective 

a , n , dwer ® 1 this occasion poetically inclined, I would not repair 

would t; n R e ,r^ n KV°7^ ned Par ^ ss ™> nor drink of feigned Castalia’s streams; nor 

J rV h British blind Maonides sip of that fabled streamlet which flows fast by the 
oracles of God. I would not ask some fancied seraph to attune my lyre; nor the Graces and 
^^° VeS « 0 ^ eC K- a i e i my S , tram - These sim P le characters inscribed upon th^ tablet of 

an ^ ood ^' so . h on< orable t^'A^R ic^ 0 ^^nefici aT to man^'so re^Ie°te whlTah tluu can 8 ?) laminate 
pri^tS ^ ** 

S." n , eed n ° ^rir the canonization .f the hero of our theme-we need not fear of 

j? xnsi :S so ™ few 

ment w.ukl be rather a defect phce ’ wbeM ^oqueixe instead of orna. 

Ci^'ofl’HiLiDELPHU^and^stni^tuve * novel scene in ,h. 

horror by many of our well meaning but priest deluded fellow^en 11 contem P Iated with 
reverse the immortal Jefferson’s immoiK ' vh ° Would 

with saddles on their backs and a favoured few booted and snurred ™Tf ™ n * md horn 
legitimately “ by the grace of God.” And no marvel heron ’ destined to ride them 
our Alexander Campbells prostitute their great talents to aid °i 8 ^ fe ® hn & s * when 
deman only a few weeks ago, in the Musical^ Km i°¥ d *3 delusion. That gen- 
vailed,and prevail they mJst assuredly will, that the whole fabrk^nf^ lf ° ur P inci p!«s pre- 

^P r ? di c‘ f rovovyi’„ no vatr ,0 o„ S :s d t 

order of society. I remember when in the British Parliament I w r * the e11 bein & and 
and a Clarkson were pleading the cause of the c ^ riL ° EttF0RCE » a Granville 

prejudice was alarmed/sordid?nerest 5 ^ J2£uSn^fSbL dau S hte « <* <=™el bondage’ 
eolation were predicted-the phiUnthroDirtri , nn7wi h,t»L h ° rrors of ra “sacre and de! 
and that one foul blot, legalized skverv P w a s dl u S ’ P* rsev ered and prevailed 

Laws. And still Brx^aiAS escutcheo/offiS 

were as crowded as ever; and the white man ft.ll re^ j ?. lts m »rkets and its streets 

black man made him not tfraid ^ h i s vi "° and fig tree and the 

nounced m England, but with an involuntary shuddTr °wh^ , E f m ? nc, P atl ° n was not pro- 
the Catholic to an equal participation with ilia r» . * • tolerate the Papist! admit 

the unspeakable horrors which Jesus foretold were to be the nrllli * onstrous 1 why 

r the seven vials of Almighty wrath spoken of in the a pop a pre udes ^ ls second Coming; 
horrible to depict the mighty mischiefs P that would ensut on C^l’ W6re SCarceIy ^fficientf^ 

‘he proscribed Catholic was emancipated and the Sw Catholic emancipation. And yet 
«ver. And so we all remember thaf tn this’tuntiJ a worse th?„.P S ° Und ', y f d s ««el/ae 
outpoured on our devoted heads, if government continued t th ; PiSD ° Bi s bo * was to be 

«“""W» - t& miaSS 


(70 

whetlu of the mail have not since ceased to revolve on that as on other days, and Jan*™*', 
immortal reports still grace the walls of our domiciles, and our citizens are as hapnv and a* 
safe as ever; and the smiles of our sweethearts and our wives are as playful and as ray and their 
beaming eyes still sparkle with their wonted humid pleasure, and their cheeks are tinged 
with as fresh a bloom. And as it hath been, so it is now, and ever will be, until priestianity 
and ignorance be banished from the world. v y 



i! _ 

0- me in a garden _____ 

38 or three years with several hundred copies. 'While “The Age of Reaso^ which i^ now 
[y BelIl "S lI V! 118 country for twenty.five cents, not longer ago than 1817 could not have been 
■ purchased m London for less than about 5 dollars. 

1! The first public celebration of the author’s birth day, as far as my researches have been able 
Jl to trace, was in London at an obscure tavern, and by a very few persons, now 16 years ago- 
'8 bul 8 y e L ars more had onl y passed away, when it was celebrated in the city of I ondonTaveSn 
one of the first rate Hotels in that metropolis, and which was attended by a verv large and re* 
spectable company. About which time, and more especially afterwards, the anniversary con 
tinned to increase in nnmbers and importance in all the principal towns in England, Iceland 
Scotland and Wales * 

In America, it appears that the first effort was made in NewYork, by a very few zealous in- 
viduals in the year 1825 in Harmony Hall, one of the second rate taverns in that city, since 
lich they have held the festival in that highly respectable house called Tammany Hall. 

And in reverting to this eoncise history of our celebration it is my duty to say something of 
(ILADELFHIA, and I will discharge that duty at the risk of being accused of egotism. The 
\ s u’ L tru i 8t W c l \ more than mnc } l fy the crime 1 will discharge that duty at the risk of calling 
“r th ® blusb of shame, or the painful feeling of regret in any individuals present who may be 
conscious of a denlection of their duty. 1 will discharge that duty although I may seem to 
reflect on the society at whose call I cheerfully appear thus before you, and by whose kind in¬ 
vitation the stranger without their gates and I as one of those strangers, came here this even¬ 
ing. Fellow Citizens, I take to myself the chief honor of its introduction in the City of Phila- 

a. 1 arrived here from England in the month of September 1827 _ a week or two be- 

e 29th January ensuing I had seen copied by a Philadelphia paper, from a New York 
il, that the birth day of the great patriot was about to be celebrated In that city. I had 
previous inquiries, but 1 could not find that the anniversary had ever been here cele- 
or was then intended to be. 1 accordingly determined to make an effort by public ad- 

-- ment, to ascertain the fact. I took my written notice to the office of one of our papers 

and presented it to a gentleman there with a requst to know what was to pay. To pourtray 
)ks of this man of type when his peering eyes rested on the ominous words “ Thomas 
s birth day” I must resume my pencil rather than employ my pen—suffice it to say that 
ome common place objectiop.3 and apologies it was refused insertion. Even money,that 
at all locksmiths could not open the adamantine doors of this man’s bigot heart; but it 
uently appeared in another paper as an editorial scrap. No answer came. A few pri- 
ends, however, joined me in celebrating the anniversary in my humble lodgings Short- 
this I became associated with the then Society of Liberal Friends, to whom 1 had the 
o propose the celebration, and at our first public festival, I filled the high and honora- 
!0n m this very hall, which the Society of Free Enquirers have called upon me to fill 
)resent occasion. From causes I will not now stay to detail, the Society of Liberal 
> like many other ill-conducted societies became ext inct; but at an anniversary of this 
as from the ashes of the fabled Phoenix sprang up theFree Enquirers, and at the same 
rose in all the beauty and majesty of female loveliness and intellectual greatness the 
Lady of the Rotunda in London; and as the Society of Free Enquirers is too much 
d both in theory an^ractice.do not employ the best means forthe extensive diffusion 
principles we are this evening met to recognise and admire, permit me to express the 
t at our next anniversary we may have to say that from this celebration originated, I 
Me ev * antic ‘P ate * ts fe atures or its form; but a something that may immortalize this memora- 

the zealous friends to the hallowed memory of Thomas Paine (and there is not a bosom 
nat throbs with a warmer emotion and veneration of sentiment than mine) the American hath 
ieen accused of ingratitude, and not without a cause; but Thomas Paine’s moral character hath 
jeen assailed, and all men, in seeming at least are moral; all shun the society or familiar re¬ 
cognition of those who have been branded with gross .immoralities. But the damning sin of 
i nomas Paine, was his hatred and opposition to priestianity, and if any of us commit this sin of 
ins, let our moral character have been as free from taint as the ehaste and unsuspected wife 
i Caesar, the foul mouthed tongue of bigot calumny shall cast its feted spittle upon ©ur other- 
f *50 nsuiueu name. ~ r 




( 8 ) 

In the year 1802 On Thomas Paine's return from Europe to America, a public dinner w as 
gi* en in honor of that great patriot at the City Hotel in New York. On that occasion alter 
Morton, Esq: a gentleman of high standing in that city was one of the Committee of Arrange¬ 
ments From that period a friendship commenced between Walter Morton and Thomas Paine 
—and Walter Morton witnessed the dying gasp of his long and much loved fr nd. 

Ye hypocrites! ye generation of vipers! go ask the numerous surviving friends of Walter 
M >rton, what was the grade of his moral character, and then read in his everlasting refutation | 
in the public prints of all the malicious charges against the man whose friendship and esteem 
he deemed the highest honor and glory of his life. 1 know several of the surviving friends of 1 
Walter Morton, and I have no hesitation in saying, that had Thomas Paine been the man his l 
enemies represent him to hsve been, he would have been the last mm on earth to have been | 
a tit companion for Walter Morton—the last man on earth with whom Walter Morton would j 
have associated. But why mention the facts to which I have alluded. You have not so learned 
Thomas Paine! 1 mention it lest peradventure there be one person present whose doubts are 
st U unmoved, whose prejudices still remain. And for the same reason I add that in Mr. Mor- " 
t 'Ps published testimony we have equal proofs of the false and malicious rumours respecting ,i 
the apustacy of Thomas Paine on his dying bed. Irritated by extreme pain, he was undesir* ^ 
oos of being disturbed during his short intervals of repose by officious medlars about his theo- 
logical opmions, and therefore his uniform reply to their queries, was “my opinions are be¬ 
fore the world, l believe them unanswerable, let them refute them if they can”—and so say T, 
and so say you, “let them refute them if they can.” Remember this, whenever you hear t he : 
Sentiments in the “ Age of Reason” evil spoken of by ideotic slaves, who dare not read a sin¬ 
gle page beyond their priest directed primers, repeat the dying patriot’s dying words, “let 
, them refute them if they can,”as frequent and as loud as was the warning voice in Philip’s ear, 
exclaim, “ let them refute them if they can” And so they harrassed Voltaire in his dying mo¬ 
ments, unt’l he pettishly silenced them by saying, “ do let me dieln peace, and hear no more 
about that nun Tes-ts.” And if you believe in priestly lies, the philosopher of Ferney too ab¬ 
jured his principles when dying, and 90 did David flume, and many others And suppose they 
did, would that convert truth into falsehood—fable into fact? I should regret the circumstance 
it is true, but I would not care, if all who had intended to surround our festive board after my 
address were to be seized with sudden compunctious visitings and retire to their homes with- 1 
out tasting the good cheer our worthy host has provided for us, and to morrow join the pious 
Temperance Society, and on Sunday next join some Sectarian Church; still principles would 
remain unchanged, the nature of things remain unaltered, but 1 have no such fears; I antici* 
pate that our table will be graced by many of high born intellect and moral goodness—1 ex¬ 
pect the enjoyment this evening of much of “ the feast of reason and the flow of soul.” P 

It is not that Thomas Paine was gifted with any very extraordinary* share of literary genius j; 
that we celebrate his birth day, but he occupied a space in the literary world he only was fited 
Jo occupy: nay more, a space he only had the courage and the honesty to fill. A»>d yet even 
in learning and eruditioh Thomas Paine was no ordinary character, and it were a boon to the 
world if we bad, what we have not a philosophical biography of that great man — to shew the 
clearness of his perceptions, the correctness of his reasoning, the extent of his genius, his 1 
knowledge of science, his profound research, his unconfined benevolence, and his unsurpass- ] 
ed republican virtues, to pourtray^ him in all his intellectual greatness and moral worth. That ! 
cu’dd be no common mind which called forth the friendship and esteem of the Franklins and 
the Clymers—of such men as Dr. Rush and Rittenhouse and Samuel Adams. That could be 1 
no every day character of which Mr Barlow said that “he ought to he ranked among the 
brightest luminaries of the age in which he lived.” It is true that he did not graduate at either 
ol the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, but he was taught at a respectable Grammar 
School, and would have been what is called a classical scholar, had not his parents being strict 
members of the Society of Friends, prohibited his learning Greek and Latin; but if he could 
not prate about hie, hsec, hoc, he at a very early age bought a pair of Globes and studied them- 
ifhe could not astonish his venerable fatherwith alpha, beta, gamma, delta, he could tell hii 
that he had attended the philosophical lectures of Martin and Ferguson—if he could not shoe; 
h.s parents by translating to them the indelicacies of Virgil and Ovid, he could entertain them 
by the purer ebullitions of his own chaste muse, for he had cultivated the pleasing art of poetry 
to no inconsiderable effect, his “Liberty Tree,” and “Death of Abercrombie,” are 
elegant specimens of his genius and his taste, in the lyrical or balled style; and hr 1 
ban learning enough, and talents enough to win the friendship of Dr. Bevi3, a cel 
ebrated philosopher and a distinguished member of the Royal Society. Thu. 
trained in the school of things, in the school of nature, in the school of truth, he * 
was, according to his own account, very early led to confront the eternal evidence 
ol facts with what has been falselv called Divine Revelation, and hence the per* 




ception of their discrepancy, and hence the theological revolution in his mind, and 
hence the world hath been blessed with the “ Age of Reason.” 

It may be said, for there are men base enough for any calumny, it may be said 
that Thomas Paine was an Englishman and therefore my commendation. An Edi¬ 
tor of one of the Wilmington papers when I was delivering lectures in that citv, 
taunted me with the unpardonable sin of suffering myself to have been born on tile 
other side of the Atlantic With such a man, so low in intellect, so debased iti 
morals, I would not deign to enter the arena of controversy: but to you I will say 
that never yet existed a mind more devoid of the free masonry of love of country 
and of clan than mine. I have the feelings, and affections, and passions, of our 
common nature; I frequently look back to the kindred and friends from whom I se¬ 
parated perhaps for ever, with the sigh of regret, and the tear of sorrow. There 
are associations, which, nor distance nor absense ever can destroy. The amor 
patria that covers all vices and all crimes, may blend itself well with a warriors 
name; but I ought, and I believe I do, embrace within the arms of my charity the 
universal world. 

But Englishman or American, Thomas Paine needs no commendation, and it is 
only to revive him in our memories that I h ave thus stepped forth at yonr call to 
speak of that hallowed name—merely to touch that tender chord wlfch in every 
patriot-philanthropic bosom must vibrate with unutterable pleasure. No ! Thomas 
Paine needs no commendation, his “ Age of Reason,” his “ Crisis,” his “ Com - 
rnon Sense,” his “ Rights of Man,” while the printing press exists, and while the 
immortality of mind endures, his praise will be trumpeted forth in sweeter, louder 
strains than yours or mine. 

The little monitor before me (time,) bids me pass in silence these incomparable 
works, one only excepted must receive a passing remark. “ The Age of Reason,” 
s a master piece of erudition, of genius and talent, tarnished here and there it is 
rue, with the fanciful speculations of Deism. It is this, what has been called na¬ 
tural religion, that has conjured up the Devil to be a partner of Deity in all our 
mundane affairs—that originally gave use to manichaenism, two everlastingly op¬ 
posing principles. Detach this portion of visionary nonsense from the work, and 
I know of none so well calculated to open the blind eye and unstop the deaf ear of 
deluded and priest-ridden men and women. 

His common sense appeared in the memorable year of ’76 and during the same 
year was published the first of 15 numbers of the “Crisis.” The “Rights of 
Man/ burst upon the Old World in ’91 and ’92, and in ’96 the greatest of all his 
great works, “ The Age of Reason.” When I say the greatest of all his great 
works, I know that my opinion will come into collision with the opinion of some 
who profess to be admirers of Thomas Paine. There is a mawkish patriotism and 
liberality abroad, that do more harm than good to both. To expose priestly frauds 
according to such Laodiceans, is worse than useless, and I heard one of these 
gentry only a few weeks ago, most ignorantly, or imprudently decry the public ser¬ 
vices of a lecturer, whose chief ambition is, not only to follow in the track marked 
out by Thomas Paine, but as much to excell that great and good man, in all his 
greatness and in all bis goodness, as Thomas Paine excelled all the public writers 
who preceded him—yes tYis lecturer, who had been many yeai*3 an efficient mem¬ 
ber of a literary and philosophical society in England, and who has delivered to 
many an enlightened and approving audience, in Philadelphia, Wilmington, New 
York, Albany, and otherplaces, several hundred lectures, within a few years—even 
that gentleman’s learning and talents displayed in these numerous discourses, were 
with a want of decorum befitting only a drunken bacchanalian, or besotted igno¬ 
rance, compared to the A, B, C, exercises of a mere school boy. That calumniat 
ed and much abused gentleman now stands before yc. That gentleman has bee 

B 






( 10 .) 

invited by a body of well informed and intelligent men, to be your organ from this 
desk on this occasion in the oxpresson of sentiments, to which not one in this 
room, with he exception of the person alluded to, but will [ hope most cheerfully, 
and sincere^ respond, I am a mere school by, forsooth, because my chief aim has 
been as Thomas Paine s was to expose the fraudulent knaveries of priestcraft, the 
heartless fooleries of fanaticism, the slavish absurdities of superstition and the 
the nTT Cr , Ue . lties ° f persecution— to expose the frauds and follies of the Bible, 

Ihiefs we dTnt Tof ‘ mp ° St " T re ° f *\ riestiani . l r aad ">e source of all the mis- 
cniets we deplore! Of such men, I would say with the dying patriarch, “ mv soul 

come not thou unto their secret, with them mine honor be not thou united ” There 
is too much of this ignorance or bad feeling, where we might have expected more 
good sense, or better feelings, and there is a lack of moral courage, in the tolera- 
lon or encouragement of such men. Whence arises the ingratitude of Americans 
owards the memory of Thomas Paine?—his “Age of Reason”_He aUacked 
the hydra monster pnestianity, in its strongest holds, and priest governed Ameri- 
oans will never forgive him ! Whence is it that in all our public patriotic festivals 
b f aZ '? mng . fort , h ° fth , e names of exalted worthies vvho have written 

f0r A f e " Ca V freedom the name of Thomas Paine is thrown into he 
shades of an everlasting forgetfulness? the “ Age of Reason,” is the cause? The 
pnestly magicians have cast a spell bound tacitunity upon their lips. It is there¬ 
fore to rescue his hallowed name, from the silent obloquy of his enemies and the 
mistaken devotion of his pretended but false friends, thafwe have assembled he e 
hn. evening, and if life and health be spared we will ere long fill high the chc " 1 

rendering ofbiblican writers. It takes L present version T/L b1hT° US 
always to take it in our arguments on the internal evidence of iN n th ' ^ 
well understood and literal sense, and thus without intending in the leaS 10 ^ 
ciate sueh excellent works as those of Yolney, Mackav aifd to de P re " 

in which the “ Age ef Reason-' is written, will^h!^f coIifc'IS “ 
iomthe enor of superstitious creeds, more in 12 months than the- mvthnirx • i 
and astrological dissertations will effect in 12 years. Thomas piine has wilPoh 
served that “to believe such a mass of absurdities, contradictions and crying 
eries as the bible contains to be a divine revelation, would be to unbelieve a 
belief m moral justice; and that to read the horrid accounts without an involu 

vote„,nn7h U e d hea e rt 0 of U ma°n eVery ^ WaS and S ^P athisi "S> a " d bene- 

ism, were inserted from motives of noli :y, and to Dander sn firTn i ^ . Q 

like many other great men who have gone down to the grave sustaimnganTt'h' 
dox reputation, and who are now known to have been the very reverse of whauhev 
seemed. I do not believe this of Thomas Paine, I believe he believed ‘ „ they 

tence of hi. “ Age of Reason.” My survivors, If they sly Iam imnoHdc 
prudent in being “ honest enough to be bold, and bold enough to be honest " shTl'l 
ve to ie\ eise the compliment. Honesty ! why it is only another name for 

miable virtue of sincerity—the godlike attribute of Truth_Inteo-rilv " 

high tribunal of hood winked Justice. It is like the waving rinn/t 1 ° n 

brow, where loveliness doth sit enthroned in the divinity of her n g adv S e 0 exc b en aUty,S 

making even barbarity adore. Thomas Paine, like many others 0 ^ 00 ! ^^^ 
of all supernaturals; he must retain at least one household God ’and having nd 
tamed his Iool, he gave him idea, attributes corresponding with the ar^pes o} 





greatness and of goodness previously traced upon his mind. Suchlike amalgama* 
lions are very natural and very easy; the history of the admixture of all supersti¬ 
tions will furnish many an illustrative example. The Greeks discovered their own 
Jupiter at Thebes—their Apollo at Heliopolis—their Vulcan at Memphis-their 
i-hana at Bubastes and at Sais the blue eyed goddess their favorite Minerva—So 
at i ombez in South America, an intelligent traveller* observed in 1822 that al¬ 
though the religion there was professedly the Roman Catholic, “yet their mode of 
worship is so engrafted with the old Peruvian superstition*, so as to be scarcely 
perceptible,” that is that the Catholic Religion was scarcely perceptible. So the 
one Idol supplants every other, as is related of the Pagan Gods in the various pro¬ 
vinces of Ancient Egypt, who destroye each other. The Deists God of Nature 
swallcws up all the Theologian Gods—so the Salvatory God of the Universalis! 
turns out of Heaven the Damnatory God of the Calvinist. And thus the God Ich- 
neumen, made war against the God Wolf—the God Wolf liked to eat the God 
Sheep—the God Ibis, devoured the God Serpent—and thus the partizans of the 
God Dog, were enemies to those of the God Wolf, those who adored the God Ox, 
abhorred those who ate him,” and so on to the end of the chapter—we shapen our 
God according to our fancy, or caprice, or education—and we despise and quarrel 
with and persecute, and if we could, would murder the worshippers of every other 
For even the honest Deist meets with no mercy from the ultra-orthodox—they say 
with the Milford Bard, that the “Soul of the Deist receives its death warrant of 
damnation which is sealed by the frown of Almighty God.” No marvel then that 
Shelley a greater than the Milford^Bard, should say of the Orthodox God,that he is 

“ A vengeful, pitiless Almighty Fieitd 

“ Whose mercy is a nickname for the rage 

“Of tameless Tigers hungering for blood.”— 

But with this little defect of Deism that somewhat pale the scintilations of its daz- 
ling glories, there is a something about the “ Age of Reason,” the subjects dis- 
cursed, the simplicity of stile, the strength #f argument, the scientific illustration, 
the boldness, the faithfulness of the writer, that it will continue to rank pre-eminent¬ 
ly great, while the folly which it exposes and the frauds which it condemns continue 
to exist. The Bible Society and the “ Age of Reason” must be coeval in their 
duration—they must live and die together. 

When the bible shall cease to exist otherwise than as a memento of priestly im¬ 
posture and ignorant credulity, the iron Age of Reason shall give place to the gol¬ 
den age ofliterature and science and the arts—theoretical dogmas shall be suprcs- 
ed by practical morality, while wisdom and virtue, not church going buffooneries 
form the only passports to glory, and honor, and renown. 

Inconclusion, to celebrate the birth day of Thomas Paine is [for us as citizens 
of America to call up the most pleasing, the most instructive associations. It is 
these associations that give the birth day of Thomas Paine its chief value and u- 
tility in the celebration—for when Thomas Paine was born many an infant left its 
mother’s womb, vice stalked forth with its attendant misery, and virtue walked 
with its companion pleasure, nor more, nor less, because that Thomas Paine was 
born. The sons and daughters of poverty groaned, and the bloated inheritors of 
wealth rejoiced; neither more nor less because thatThomas Paine was brought j*feo 
the world It is the associations therefore, that give U i f s chief excellence and glory. 
In this respect it is more talismanic than the rod of Moses or Alladin'ss lamp. It 
calls up before our mental vision the great father of our country, and all the heros 
and sages of the revolution. It brings before our view, as it were but yesterday, 
the ever memorable year of '76, and it spread oat before us the great eharter of out- 
liberties. Nay, so great so good are these sympathetic associations, that all the 

* Pickering-. 






great arid good of human kind stand before our vision surrounded with the halo 
imperishable glory, i 

. J£ we cal !^t up to our grateful remembrance these redeeming spirits we have com mitt 
treaaon against the holy anniversary we have only pretended to celebra, e -!ndlast not le«t 
"f. blin # I 101 bef ° re our mental vision the honored shade of Stephen Girard crowned with 
he tiara of immortality, encircled with the everlasting benediction of thi^dow and 

no^° 6 it ? ® b ^ b ^te Kurdnous' s^!ec k| °no* biggerThan^a*n ar d 'wd 1 ye 

New e b r r ^ fr „°f m El?* e .t S", 

ok of prophecy—not the predictions of him who was craciieii in a niaH/rer not tl -^ rea ^ 

b!, ‘" -■ 


But lho* we boast of Independence now, 
nd wear the glorious impress on our brow, 
T , 1 * me was > when, heretofore 
nat Freedom heavenly maid was young 

nd “ eat u h the drooping willows sung 
ur Liberty no more ; 

*? r round her lovely form divine 
The serpent s i,avhrt dared entwine 

And fill j her soul with grief and dread— 
Now coward Fear— 

w ti , No ^ ba f.?ard Cake, 

* ith horrid yells, and looks of fire, 

Stt'zsd and struck the trembling |/ re 

ingKaS° MSUnk ‘ ler n °"' "^Pond- 

Anon—-H ope came from patriot PAINE 
And great COLUMBIA’S SIRE 
And snatch’d the lyre 

And swept a livelier strain, 

And Victory, and Fame appeared 

A - ,. nd lEA( i E Wlth ohve bra «ch uprear’d 
Ana thus, up borne on joyous wing- 
In strains of sweetest music sing 

•rite times which tried men’s souls are 


And Liberty is won, 

Won by the patriots who were led 
A , , PAINE and WASHINGTON, 

As tuch d with an Ithuriee spear 

The serpent Slavery, slunk for ever 
i o dark Oppression’s den. 

While gloomy Care 
And timid Fear 

a j • ^ 0u £ bt Lethe’s gloomy fen 
And in her datk oblivion’s waters, there 
1 he y plung’d and sunk for ever— 

Peace, Hope, and Victory withdrew, 

M hue Fame on Freedom’s scrol she dre 
In characters as durable as time,— 

The day that gave great PAINE his bii 
In storied song throughout the earth, 

An( ] ^ a , i l! e ,n . e . Vel 7 j and, in every dime- 
And as old Ti»yj his rears roll round ’ 

Each freeman s heart with joy shall bound 
And no paeans raise. 

Our patriot’s glad birth shall be 
* rom pole to pole a Jubilee, 

. ° ne b «rst of holy praise 
Ha. sacred day ! bail Jubilee ! 

Hail THOMAS PAINE and LIBERTY 


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3. The Rights of Man-Honour to all who 
assert and maintain them; palsied be the arm 
that would aid to overthrow them. 

a Th A ma , n ’ s a man for a* that. 

4. The Crisis.—Indeed a Crisis: May our 
Legislators, animated by the spirit of ’76, 
merge all minor considerations in love of 
country, and thus ensure the safety and per¬ 
manency of our republican institutions. 

* mho 4 ^7»* Star S P a ”g led Banner. 

5 The Age of Reason —Its sun has arisen, 
andlnsdawmng rays have enlightened the 
earth: May we soon witness the power and 
splendour of his meridian beams. 9 cheers. 

.. rr*\ n . Hai l to the Chief: 

6 . Thomas Paine.—Calumny and destruc¬ 
tion have exhausted the arrows of their qui 
ver, and he still stands in bold relief— the" 
champion of Liberty. 9 cheers. 

Washington’s Mareh. 


SONG. 

Written for the occasion by Mr. W. Burke - 
Liberty Tree. 

When tyranny struggled a real to retain, 

In the thriving domains of th<e west. 

And sought for her minions this refuge to 
gain, 

This home for the freeman oppress’d. 
Brave men started forth undistinguish’d, un¬ 
known, 

n -1 1 freedom was heard to complain; 
e pen and the sword their devotion was 
hown, 

1 their path was prescrib’d them by 
'aine. 


The empire of bigotry, vast in extent, 

And more rigid than tyranny’s sway. 
Would quench ev’ry glimmer of liberty sent, 
To illumine life’s oft-clouded way, 

Society witnessed the monsters advance, 

But deem’d every struggle in vain, 
nn ‘ n philosophy baffl’d its progress in France, 
d the world was awaken’d by Paine. * 

mbia nobly disputed the right 
-lich monarchs assert to their throne, 
shave passed, she has risen in glory and 
might. 

While her populace govern alone. 

Hence kingcraft is banish’d, still priestcraft 
survives, 

And hopes through all time to remain, 
hough the learn’d and the honest have 
wasted their lives. 

In opposing its dogmas with Paine. 

to boast of the freednm enjoy’d, 
While our reason itself is enslav’d, 

*nd vain was the valour our fathers em- 

a P J° y d !»m 

And mjgByer© the dangers they brav’d. 

priest what was wrested 


And in darkness consent to remain, 

1 bri > ngs° f the knowled 8 e which history 
And the legacy left us by Paine. 

SONG. 


Paine:—The Champion of Liberty. 

Written for the occasion by Geo. R. M Fa r - 
lane: Ain, American Star. 

In days long gone by, when oppression dark 
lower’d 

O’er this “land of the free and the home of 
the brave;” 

And each patriots choice, by fell numbers 
o’erpower’d, 

Seem’d the chains of the tyrant, or Liber¬ 
ty’s grave, 

When the bright star of freedom arose in the 
west. 

On a nation determined their rights to 
maintain, 

Then first in the ranks of her bravest and 
best, 

Stood The Champion of Man and his Lib¬ 
erty—Paine. 


Though countless the hosts of oppressor- 
rolled on, 

And hopeless the cause of Columbia ap¬ 
peared, r 

Still true to that cause stood: each patriot 
son; ^ 

Nor the threats, nor the frowns of the ty¬ 
rant they fear’d, 

But they gave forth the flat,that man should 
be tree. 

Nor longer the subject of tyrants remain, 

Common Sense” had gone forth and con¬ 
firm’d the decree 

From the pen of The Champion of Liber¬ 
ty—Paine. 


Whatev’r the shape that oppression assum’d 
He combated still for the rights of man, 
kind, * 

The rays of his genius old Europe illum’d. 
And tyranny quail’d at the light of his 
mind, ° 

When the king and the priest had together 
combin’d & 

In unholy allianoe, their ends to attain, 

To build up their thrones on the ruins of 
mind, 

They met their rebuke from The Wisdom 


Then blest be the day, ever hallow’d the 
hour 

That gave to the champion of liberty birth 
May it ne er be forgotten while memory has 
power, 

Or liberty dwells on one spot of the earth 
And may all who assemble to honour his 
name, 

The truths he proclaim’d, still with bold¬ 
ness maintain, 







And cherish forever the generous flame 
That was lit by The Champion of Liberty 
Paine. 


Then freedom’s bright wings shall o’ersha- 
dow the world, 

And man be the slave of his tyrants no 
more, 

The flag of man’s rights to the wind be un¬ 
furl’d. 

And the days of oppression be number’d 
and o’er. 

Then feel superstition shall triumph no more. 

But science shall flournish and reason shall 


reign, 


7- Liberty.—Long a wanderer of the earth, 
scorn’d and opposed by crown’d and mitred 
oppressors, may she soon find a home in eve¬ 
ry country, and in every clime. 6 cheers. 

Marseilles Hymn. 

, Slavery.—The foulest blot on our na¬ 
tional escutcheon : Immortality to the man 
who wipes away the stain. Galley Slave. 

9. Education—May our legislators soon 

be able to devote to this part of their duty, 
the time now spent in chartering banks. 9 
cheers. Yankee Doodle. 

10. Stephen Girard.—May his benevolent 
and liberal intentions be speedily carried into 
effect, his will fulfilled to the letter, and his 
college preserved from the contamination of 
clerical or sectarian influence- 9 cheers. 

Orphan Roy. 

11. The memory of Thos. Jefferson.—En¬ 

ured to every freeman by the exertions of 
a long life spent in the cause of civil and re¬ 
ligious liberty. Dea d March. 

12. The Rank and File of the Revolutiona- 

ry Army.—Like the leaves of autumn, they 
are falling round us, and will soon live only in 
the recollections of their grateful country- 
men - Auld Lang Syne. 

Women.—Debased and degraded un¬ 
der all superstion, she should be' the first to 
urge their downfall: May the progress of rea¬ 
son soon restore her lost rights, and proclaim 
her equal to the Lord of Creation. 18 cheers 

Hail Liberty. 


ODE. 

, , rL For * he occasion * By Charles Mead. 
Whe " Fre edom’s fair genius arose in the 
W est. 

And breath’d her complaints in a sorrow¬ 
ful strain, 

The Gods heard her murmers, and saw her 
oppress’d, 


Al p d ai S ne. t hef “ d the bold <*»®pion. 


Minerva had nursed him with kindness and 
love, 

Inspired him with wisdom to spread light 
afar, 

Instructed by Mars, and directed by Jove, 
T{lS voice was P nnn nrl a 

ders of war. 


The glad songs of freemen shall sound from 
each shore, 

In praise of The Champion of Liberty- 
Pain e. 


Our country was bleeding at every vein, 

And carnage was made of the children of, 
men, 

When myriads arose through the counsels ofn, 
Paine, |j 

With valour inspir’d by his magical pen. L 


Though long was the conflict and doubtful 
the strife. 

Our land was redeem’d from the thraldom h 
of kings, . 

Our fathers had purchas’d with blood and : 
with life 

The blessings the Goddess of Liberty t 
brings. 


ae 

Proud tyrants on thrones of oppression and 
blood. 

Surround’d with holy impostors and knaves ne 
Have felt a keen Paine, and confounded have 
stood, tjj 

When his great “ Rights of Man” were 
made known to their slaves.” 


When priestcraft had filled men with hatred 
and gloom, 

That hung o’er the nations like centuries 
} of night, 

TW b^ooin 811 ^* 11 the young buds of reason to 

And science and truth cheer the world 
With their light. 


Th ™’ a S®f come on the records of fame, 
When dark superstition shall flee from the 
land, 

With those of immortal renown, will his 
name, 

«" s fi' d n ys,anders ' lrium PhantIy stand, 
. h y? ney > Presi ‘lent. The immor- 

ta 1 author of Common Sense, the Crisis, the 
liights of Man, and the Age of Reason: Pos- 
terity will do justice te his character when 
the sun of science has dispelled the clouds 
ot superstition from the world. 

P*®n 7 A L ThA Vice Pres i<fcnt. Thomas 

Paine: The effulgence of his deeds and the 

divine justice of his truths are too bright to 

a,^pe 0 rsS. ebythe d ° UdS 
. William Kennedy, Vice President. The 

de S rne e f ason: A piliar of light in thewil. 

derness of supersution, leading too straight 
for the tribe of Levi to follow, it 6 
By Geo. R. MTarlane. 

He has shared the fate of all rei^^^Hp er - 

secution: may his sentence pSB^ocsin 





which is to rouse the friends of religious lib 
erty to the necestity 0 f defending their 
n rights. 

By Reuben Hanse. Thomas Paine and Ro¬ 
bert Morris. The chief architects in erecting 
the temple of American liberty; a long im- 
U pnsonment the reward of one and the blight¬ 
ing curses of bigotry the other. 

; Dy Demers. The illustrious name of 
Thomas Paine: May each liberalist bequeath 
it to posterity as he found it; the bigots dread. 
Reason s legacy, the friend and advocate of 
the Rights of Man. 

^ Isaac A. Stevens. May phurch property 
hot be exempt from taxation, nor the poor 
or man taxed for wearing a head, till that head 
is made valuable by an equal system of edu- 
^ cation at the public expense. 

W. B. Flounders. The liberal papers ofoqr 
rt country, devoted to the cause of truth, rea¬ 
son, and free inquiry; they are like so many 
heralds of light among the spirits of dark- 
in ness. 

John Caney, Robert L. Jennings- A pio- 
neer in the cause of Free Inquiry, the friend 
iv and advocate of rational education, we appre¬ 
ciate his worth. 

er By a Guest. Judge Thatcher and the Bos¬ 
ton Grand Jury: They have done more to 
he cause of Free Inquiry than the vic- 
re y f their persecution. 

Wm. ‘Ferral. Francis Wright, Mary 
i a ohcraft, and the Lady of the Rotunda, a 

glorious trio in the cause of mental emanci- 
I pation. 

By a Guest. John Locke, whose disproval 
r ] of the long received doctrine of innate ideas, 
first palsied the arm of Superstition. 

By a Guest. Chancellor Brougham, who 
had the honesty to declare “ that man is no 
• more accountable for his opinions than for 
^ the place of his birth or the color of the skin.” 

I — ;y Wm. Campbell. The three Presidents, 
erson’that was, Jackson that is, and John- 
j f that will be: May we have a regular and 
4 - iterupted succession of such sons, as guar- 

,r dians of American and Universal liberty. 

Song, Columbia Land of Liberty. 

4 By C. Mead. The liberal papers in the U. 
4 States: We hail them as morning stars that 
d) announce the approach of a brighter day 

By a Guest. The theological schools of 
4 Germany, formerly the nurseries of supersti- 
1 ticn, now the sanctuaries of rational science 
tf and enlightened reason. 

1 By B. Gardiner. Free opinions on religi¬ 
ous and political principles, the best saffe- 
)j guard of a free and enlightened people. 

I * Isaac^^Afcvens. May the people of" every 
) natidS^^B^ith the national prejudices 
thjj^Bitist in tbs' owsn bosoms, and say with 
'jJ^s-paine^The world is my country, 
to do good.’* 

By Frances Wright, the op¬ 

pose of priestcraft, the friend to education, 
the honor of her sex, may her name be re¬ 
vered to the latest posterity. 


•) 

By John Farrell. George Wolf, Governor 
of Pennsylvania: May his philosophic and 
philanthropic views on thejsubject of educa- 
tion speedily be carried out into universal 
practice. 

By John Caney. Free Inquiry, the brightest 
gem in the crown of Reason. 

Ry N. Lazier. May Abner Kneeland find 
an honest and impartial Jury when again tried 
for blasphemy. 

By a Guest. The Trades’ Unions, now 
forming fhroughout the United States : 
May they duly study the moral of the Roman 
fable of the Bundle of Sticks. 

By Jacob M Relshner. Abner Kneeland, 
his keen talents h»ve made him dangerous to 
priestcraft, his enemies have unloosed their 
kennel upon him, may they soon be covered 
with the confusion they merit. 

By G. R. M‘Favland. The memory of Rich¬ 
ard Newsham, the friend of Paine, and like 
him, “ a man honest enough to be bold, and 
bold enough to be honest.” 

By W. B Flounder. Our Fellow Citizens 
of Kensington, assembled on the same occa¬ 
sion; we are proud to hail them as brothers 
in the same glorious cause. 

By Charles R. M‘Crea. Sarah M. Cornell, 
the victim of priestcraft; the punishment of 
Cain is the reward of her betrayer and mur¬ 
derer. 

By a Guest. Avery and Arnold, their es¬ 
cape from justice should 9peak in a voice of 
thunder the extent and power of clerical in¬ 
fluence. 

By Thomas Ashden. Dr. Conyears Middle- 
ton, who had the boldness to think for him¬ 
self, and the honesty to speak his thoughts* 
by which he brought against him the whole 
host of the elergy. 

By J. A. Pajker. Thomas Paine the moral 
magician, who, by the power of his mighty 
intellect, anticipated centuries, and dispelled 
the darkness of nations by the brightness of 
his Age of Reason 

By P. Crosbie. The memory of Kosciusko 
of Poland, who assisted to gain the indepong 
dence of this country, and hoped to gain the 
liberty of his own. Song, Liberty Tree. 

By Isaac A. Stevens. Abner Kneeland, a 
champion in the cause of religious liberty, 
may he triumph over the fanatics of Boston, 
and show to the world that the people of the 
U’ States acknowledges no inquisitorial laws. 

By a Guest. Robert Owen, the philanthro¬ 
pist: may his efforts in the cause of humanity 
prove successful. 

By Jonathan Russell. The “ Age of Rea¬ 
son:” may it run and be glorified until it shall 
cover the whole earth,even asjthe waters cover 
the mighty deep. 

By William Cougan. Thomas Paine. His 
name will live when those of kings and priests 
will have long sunk into the gulph of oblivion. 

By James Ferrel. Edward Thompson. The! 
unwavering and untiring advocate of libera 
opinions. 




# 



By E. B. Thompson. Liberality of senti¬ 
ment, the greatest ornament of man. 

By Mr Bierly. The people of the U. States: 
“ The schoolmaster is abroad:” may they 
.prove apt scholars in the science of the“Rights 
of Man,” and Free Inquiry. 

By P. Crosbie. Free Inquirers throughout 
the world: may they always take reason for 
their guide. 

By B. Gardiner. We, as Free Inquirers, 
wisn the Priests and Priest-ridden a better hell 
than that to which they doom us. 

By a Guest. Solomon Southwick: The first 
Christian writer w'lio has had the moral cou- 
r rage to speak truth of Paine. 

John Caney. May mankind, aided by “'Com¬ 
mon Sense,” and the “Age of Reason,” no 
longer permit themselves to be fleeced by 
wolves in sheep's clothing. 

Song, The Shearers. 

Wm. W. Wallace'Ttev £ K Avery: His 
highest ambition may well be gratified, he has 
been the founder of a sect: Averyism wiil doubt¬ 
less be coeval with Methodism. 


By Wm Nore Thomas Paine: The untirino- 
advocate of the “ Rights of xMan, the unvvav“ 
ermg toe to kingcraft and priestcraft in all 
tlioir shapes—honour to his memory. 

L M F arlane Missionaries: Their harvest 
has been gathered, tlioir hopes are “in the sore 
and yellow leaf:” they will soon be compelled 
to make their living honestly. 

Recitation—The Missionary Hymn. 

By B Gal diner, May every anniversary of 
the birth of Thomas X aine find us increasing" 
in numbers, and a decrease in the ranks of sec- 
tarianism. 


By a Guest May the friends of Thos Paine 
give their support to the Free Inquirers and by 
so doing promulgate his principles and redeem 
the country from mental as well as physical 
slavery. 

By a Guest Zelotes Fuller, editor of the 
Philadelphia Liberalist: An able advocate of 
free Inquiry. 

By G K M'Farlane The Rev. Alexander 
Campbell: he has reduced the volume of Ciiris- 
tmniiyjq^ single page; may he go ahead with 
ins abridgment. 

By.a Guest may they who fear to celebrate 
the birth day of I’nine, cease to profess admi- 
ratton of Ins principles'. 

By William s Brown William Cobbett, an 
able advocate of the “Rights of Man:” He had 
the honesty and moral courage to burst the 
fetters of prejudice, and become the champion 
oi the persecuted i’aine. 

By James Shoe fan Free Inquiry: The pa¬ 
rent o! knowledge, power and universal inde¬ 
pendence. 

hy A Jxozien. May the government ever be 
ail 111: piste red by such men as were the immor¬ 
tal Jefferson and Inline. 


■vxy Mr M I 1 arlane I lie moral philanthropists 
of iSiew \or&: Their zeal in the cause of liberal 
principles is only equalled by their success 
w their dissemination. : 

i\y Uio Company Our Host: lie deserves 
cur thaiixis lor the entertainment lie hag fur- 


| 

n shed, let us do him the same justice wo have I 
done his good cheer. 


At a meeting of a few friends who met to¬ 
gether in the City of Philadelphia, in celebra¬ 
tion of Thomas Paine’s Birth Day, the folJow- 
ingtoasts were drank. 

By Thomas Clark—Richard Carlisle and 
Robert Taylor: The two great apostles of Lib¬ 
erty, who by their honest and able affbrts in 
the cause of reason and truth, have trampled 
down the chains of superstition, and spread a 
light which has illuminated the whole civilized 
world. 

By Mr. Jeffrey The Trinity in Unity, three 
persons in one Godhead, Washington the Fa¬ 
ther, Jefferson the Son and Thomas Paine 
the Holy Ghost. 

By Thomas Clark Edward Thompson, the 
staunch advocate of “Liberal Prim i >les;”j 
may he live to see them universally spread 
and priestcraft anlnlated from the world ! 

By Mr Thwinney Success to the heart and 
arm of the man who is struggling under the 
Banner of Liberty. 

By Thomas Clark Science; the partizan of 
no country, but the beneficial patroness of all. 

By Mr Wood. Abner Krieeland, the cham¬ 
pion of free discussion and the Liberty of he 
Press, may lie meet with the support of all ho¬ 
nest and good men, and may the names of his 
persecutors be handed down to posterity with" 
shame and disomW: 

py Mr Williams. Susanna Wright, Frmcrg 
V* right and a Lady of the Rotunda, may t ir 
examples bo speedily followed, and the rights 
of woman no longer infringed upon. ° 

By Mr Smith May the enemies o( Reason be 
transmogrified into Jackasses and be rode to 
Hell by the Priests. 








































































